Muzman on 20/4/2007 at 17:43
I couldn't find a thread about this. I found a few mentions in other threads and a lot about Comm Chat's usage of the word "of", so hat me not.
but anyway, why not? Surely more of you have seen this punishingly awesome piece of cinema. See it with a crowd, that way you can hear the gasps and mutters of "oh fuck" and "holy shit".
It walks one hell of a line, comprised of docudrama, sci-fi, chase film, war film, symbolist art film, parable and omgallsorts. And, if you ask me it pulls it off. Its kinda like if Steven Spielberg's last ten films all worked and got rolled into one (with some extra he couldn't touch without schmaltzing the hell out of it).
Some folks don't seem to like the lack of overt detail about the premise and some aspects of the story. Mostly I ascribe this to a film going culture who expect a formalism of "telling" in movies rather than asking them to "read" if you know what I mean. And this flick is certainly of the latter sensibility (for a big budget spectacle picture particularly).
Its funny, most dystopian scenarios are usually some aspect of society blown out to unrealistic proportion; technology/authority gone mad! or something. There's usually someone to blame or someone to fight and its usually satiric or actually kinda cool or both. This film instead managed to create (or is it represent) a kind of nihilistic despair about, dare I say it, the human condition that I haven't seen before. Sure there's films that try; sure, read a couple of books on global economics, watch few good docos, catch a few of the right news stories and that sort of feeling can come along for a little bit. But not like this film manages to do, so completely, by itself. The premise had never occured to me before as a dystopian scenario, a sort of decay from within, and the film seems to question it as a convenient explantion: Is the lack of fertility what's behind humanity tearing itself apart, or is this future just an extension of our present anyway, babies or no?
It sounds depressing, but somehow its not. Plus its technically one of the most staggering pieces of filmmaking yet seen.
I won't blab anymore until I'm somewhat less reeling.
Hier on 20/4/2007 at 18:08
I loved it. I was really impressed at how the director only needed the first 15 minutes to establish an atmosphere of one really depressed, fucked up future. It was far more believable than pretty much any other dystopia portrayed in movies.
cabellero on 20/4/2007 at 18:13
I watched it on Monday - found a copy of it online a few months back but it seemed such a good film I wanted to wait until it came out on DVD so I could see it in decent quality - it looked like it deserved it. I'm glad I did, it was a great film, although I do feel the ending was a bit abrupt..
The day after watching that I picked up a book my mum had been badgering me to read for months - (
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Otherland-City-Golden-Shadow-Bk/dp/1857236041) Otherland by Tad Williams. The book has the exact decayed dystopian society as portrayed in the film - so much so that I find it hard to seperate the two in my mind. The books more cyber punk though, and quite an interesting take on the internet.
henke on 20/4/2007 at 21:04
Quote Posted by Hier
It was far more believable than pretty much any other dystopia portrayed in movies.
Yeah, it did feel more believable than most other movies set in the future. I guess it's because most other sci-fi future films can't restrain themselves from large swooping camerashots of the cities and stuff, like "BEHOLD! THE FUTURE!" But in CoM's documentary style filming the future just
is there in the background without any unneccesary attention paid to it.
Good movie, but I felt like it started dragging on at the end.
Dia on 20/4/2007 at 22:06
I saw it when it came out on DVD a couple weeks ago & absolutely loved it. The only formulaic part was that you knew Clive Owen would end up dying by the end. Otherwise, it was a great movie. I was kind of disappointed that Juliette Moore got whacked so soon, but still loved everything else about this film.
Abysmal on 21/4/2007 at 03:47
This one always tends to get a free pass from folk for its lack of overtness ("you just want everything spoon-fed!" is the common bandwagon knee-jerk). Weird when any other work these days gets burned for that sort of thing...from the same people even.
Upon reflection I enjoyed it quite a bit, if only as a painting in film form. The gut-impacting imagery and technical mastery are what handled it through. And it did leave me pondering and talking it over with the others who were there.
Scots Taffer on 21/4/2007 at 04:14
It got a fair bit of superficial discussion in the (
http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=111013) Best of '06 thread, Muz. Essentially though, you nail all the parts that need to discussed although perhaps skimming over technical mastery which really defined the movie for me, the tracking shots had this unbelievable immersion effect that, combined with the subtly-futuristic fascist vision, just made the movie a very brilliant experience.
I've been waxing lyrical about Clive Owen for some time now, I think the man is a tremendous actor and has real presence to nearly every role I've seen him inhabit (he pretty much made
Closer for me with his "caveman" speech with Julia Roberts), this movie was no exception, he played the part with suitable sensitivity and skepticism until the world began to break down around his ears, then he was just running scared.
Everything that works about the movie works in very subtle ways with the exception of the emotional overtures of the climax which, in some ways, is the movie's only real weakness.
Apparently (
http://www.apple.com/trailers/fox_searchlight/sunshine/trailera/) Sunshine is another UK movie that's going to be the jewel of the SF crown this decade, along with Children of Men. Brilliant stuff.
Muzman on 22/4/2007 at 11:42
I don't think this gets free ride for being obscure (well it might for some), it's more a case of some people taking the rules of narrative in film to be that premises and relationships need to be established before moving forward. Children of Men spreads its information out along its running time so you've got to constantly put things together. It's not a new way of doing things and it has the interesting effect on some people that if they get to the end and put it all together and it turns out that the story isn't all that revolutionary or loaded with clever twists they declare the film empty or thin or some such. Of course, they're discounting 'the journey' in the process (the journey can be crap as well, but I don't think that's the case here).
Anyway, that's the other thing about this flick; it's not short on archetypes (putting it mildly) and its pretty simple really. The occasional convenient circumstance, the self sacrifice. I reckon the shooting script wasn't exactly sparkling reading. I mean, the major events are punctuated by angelic mettzo singing fer chrissakes. The film could have gone so wrong so easily. And yet it doesn't. Maybe it would have won as many awards as Crash if it had.
The decision to change the cause from male infertility to maybe-female-we-don't-know, while apparently frustrating to some viewers, is darn clever. It makes the whole issue so much more amorphous; you don't even know the significance of the kid, except that it's significant and therein lies its power.
But I suppose this is plain enough. Apparently not many saw it on the first go round. It's still pretty potent on DVD though.
Chuck on 22/4/2007 at 18:15
Did anyone catch the Pink Floyd reference near the start of the movie?
A giant smokestack with a huge, inflatable pig floating in the grimy sky. Straight out of Animals!:thumb:
Sombras on 26/4/2007 at 21:56
Quote Posted by Chuck
Did anyone catch the Pink Floyd reference near the start of the movie?
A giant smokestack with a huge, inflatable pig floating in the grimy sky. Straight out of Animals!:thumb:
Yah, I caught that. It was a clever and frightening depiction of the character's desperate obsession for art. Simultaneously made me smile and freaked me right the fuck out. :thumb:
